1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a stuffing machine for a broom or brush, said stuffing machine including a bristle magazine comprising a receiving space for a multitude of bristles.
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional stuffing machines for brooms or brushes, the bristles usually are disposed upright in the bristle magazine. On one side of the bristle magazine, an outlet opening is provided, on which a bristle transfer device is disposed. The same removes a bundle of bristles from the bristle magazine and transports the bundle to a stuffing device, which then inserts the bundle into the broom or brush body.
Short bristles, as they are used for instance for tooth brushes and certain household brushes, can easily be accommodated upright in a bristle magazine. Their inherent rigidity is large enough, so that the bristles substantially extend linearly; the bristles do not bend, or are only bent to a minor extent, and they do not become entangled with adjacent bristles. In the case of longer and/or thinner bristles, as they are used in particular for certain brooms, e.g. so-called Italian brooms, the inherent rigidity of the bristles is not sufficient to ensure that the bristles in the bristle magazine remain vertically upright on their own. In particular in their upper half, the bristles tend to come to lie before and behind adjacent bristles. This is a problem when a bundle of bristles should be removed, of which some bristles still are entangled with other bristles standing further to the rear in the bristle magazine.